Construction of new Bishop classrooms takes over manufacturer's production line

In order to have as little impact on the students and staff during the regular school year, most of the construction is taking place offsite, just an hour and a half away in Manteca at American Modular Systems (AMS), a designer and builder of educational facilities that are prefabricated.

The construction project promises to be the largest capital facility project undertaken by our school district. As a result, the construction of the modular classrooms is expected to take over the entire production line for AMS for the months of October, January, and February.

Bishop Elementary will house the Sunnyvale School District’s first two-story building, a media center, and a new

SSD Capital Projects Coordinator Brandt Burns, Bishop Principal Suzanne Cicala, and Chief Operations Officer Rob Smiley pose in front of one of many of Bishop’s new classrooms currently being built.

multi-use and café building. The historic Bishop Theater will be preserved to enable young performers to showcase their emerging talents in the performing arts. The project at Bishop will also improve and reconfigure front parking along Sunnyvale Avenue.

Sunnyvale’s local school bond, Measure G, supports these and other renovations and construction projects.

Temporary classrooms for classes currently in Rooms 18, 19, 20, 23, and 24 were delivered the week of October 17. The area where work will be taking place will be roped off, and district personnel will be on site to ensure the safety of students.

The first phase of construction will be the demolition of Rooms 16-24, the library, the computer lab and the existing Child Development Center (CDC) buildings. CDC before and after school programs for school-aged children students will be housed in Rooms 8 and 9. CDC preschool will be housed in Rooms J and K.

Rendering of what Bishop’s new quad will look like.

The project is anticipated to be completed in the Fall of 2018.

Over the span of 10 years, all 10 Sunnyvale School District campuses–eight elementary and two middle schools–have seen upgrades. Improvements at the Columbia Neighborhood Center and Sunnyvale Middle and Cherry Chase and Cumberland elementary schools were completed in 2012, with Lakewood and San Miguel elementary schools completed in 2015 and 2016 respectively.

In 2012, Sunnyvale Middle School saw the opening of a new science classroom wing, which houses three science labs and two science classrooms. The building also has a 38 kw rooftop solar energy system, and students will be able to monitor and evaluate energy production of the system.

As of 2013, Cherry Chase now has a 7,300-square-foot multi-purpose room that can be used as an elementary school-size basketball or volleyball court, a cafeteria or a space for school-wide assemblies. It also has a 6.8 kw rooftop photovoltaic system.

After two years of renovation, Cumberland Elementary has a new school office building, an upgraded multi-purpose room with expanded kitchen, and new stage curtains, security system, lighting and acoustic panels.

San Miguel’s new multi-purpose building was completed over winter break in 2013, as was the conversion of the old multi-purpose building into a new library.